Pakistan’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) exports surged to $1.94 billion during the first nine months of the current fiscal year (2021-22). The IT export value is expected to surpass the $2 billion mark in FY22.
The IT industry maintained a strong rise of inflows, soaring 29.3% year over year to $1.94 billion from July 2021 to March 2022, according to the latest data released by the State Bank of Pakistan.
Pandemic lead to IT exports growth
Since the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak in March 2020, Pakistani enterprises and freelancers switched to remote working, attracting increased global demand for tech-related services. During the pandemic, ICT services’ exports increased in practically all areas, including call centers, software consulting and telecom services.
The net exports related to the IT industry exclusively, excluding support services such as call centers, totaled $1.47 billion during the July-March period of the current fiscal year, accounting for over 75% of the overall $1.94 billion in export proceeds.
When compared with fiscal 2020-2021, net IT-only exports were $1.12 billion, representing 74.72% of the $1.50 billion in ICT exports.
With a quarter to go, IT exports are expected to reach more than $2.5 billion by the end of the fiscal year 2021-22.
Political problems hampered $3.5 billion target
The ousted Imran Khan-government had set a target of $3.5 billion for ICT exports, but that may not be achieved by the conclusion of the current fiscal year, mainly due to political problems in the country.
A good year for textile exports
Fiscal 2021-22 has been a very good year for textile exports of Pakistan as well as the country’s exports jumped 25.43%year over year during the first nine months of the current fiscal year (2021-22), according to the data shared by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). As per PBS report, the textile exports during the first nine months (July-March) surged to $14.24 billion as compared to the exports of $11.36 million during the same period last year.